Home(ish)

After a brief vacation and a fairly painless real estate closing, we are once again "with home". I can't quite say that we are at home because it just doesn't quite feel like it yet. But we are here, all of us together: parents and kids and dogs and rabbit, under one roof that has our names on the title. Home...I keep trying the word out and I know that one of these days the word and the house will become entwined enough with our lives so that it finally does fit the definition.

So, the house is dirty. And not just"Oops! We forgot to mop these last couple of weeks" dirty, but more of a "Mop? What's that?" kind of dirty. Dirty to the point that I could scrape my fingernail along the powder room floor and the grime would flake off in chunks (before I scrubbed it, Cinderella-style, that is). Dirty to the point that even after mopping, twice, I still don't feel comfortable letting the children walk barefoot indoors anywhere. So, there is dirt and grime to be dealt with and every day we tackle another section, another wall, another floor and eventually we know it will be clean.

The outdoors, where the dirt is supposed to gather, is also messy. Pieces of plastic, hundreds of cigarette butts, wadded up school papers, empty tuna fish cans, etc. are all clogging the soil, making me wonder what sort of people once resided within these walls. We certainly have our work cut out for us. Fortunately, Brendan and I both enjoy work that produces tangible, visual results, so there is a great deal of personal satisfaction built into the clean-up for us.

This house will be beautiful; we know this in the same taken-for-granted way that we know our names and the faces of our friends. Once clean, the woodwork is rich and shiny. The tall ceilings, hardwood floors, and old carved pocket doors make the house feel grand, and the layout and flow of the space is really, really good. The kids can watch tv in the living room while we listen to music in the kitchen without the sounds competing, yet we can still keeo a good eye on them. The Rainbow Systems playground in the back yard has been our saving grace this week, with swings and a fort that all of us can play on. The kitchen, although somewhat cobbed together, is huge and airy and feels good to be in. The fireplace, with years of grime removed, has sparkling tiles and gives the room a graceful elegance. The front porch is perfection, and I know I will spend many hours there this fall, knitting and watching the world go by.

There is much work to be done, but we are here. We are home. This house has a new family, a new life to fill its walls and halls, and I hope that it has, in a house sort of way, breathed a sigh of relief at our arrival. I like to think so, anyway.